PositiveThe Los Angeles Times...Larsson's books are lively, intricately improbable plots. These, however, are set forth in a banal style that demonstrates no more than minimal skills when it comes to most of his characterizations and descriptive writing ... Hornet's Nest, which carries on without pause from its predecessor, finds Salander near death from a bullet wound to her head and awaiting desperate medical measures ...but physical passivity does not imply helplessness ...Salander is a deeply radicalized feminist, portrayed in a manner designed to test the sympathies of a largely liberal-minded audience, the attention of which is diverted by the blur of his books' nonstop action ....Larsson asks us whether the understanding we normally, casually extend to the principles Salander acts upon can also extend to a character who so heedlessly exemplifies them ... [Salander] adds a certain weight to his entertainments, which has doubtless encouraged the clueless enthusiasm of his reviews.
